USA-WHITE HOUSE/TRANSGENDER White House hires first openly transgender staff member
Record ID:
143354
USA-WHITE HOUSE/TRANSGENDER White House hires first openly transgender staff member
- Title: USA-WHITE HOUSE/TRANSGENDER White House hires first openly transgender staff member
- Date: 18th August 2015
- Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITES STATES (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS SHOTS OF THE WHITE HOUSE
- Embargoed: 2nd September 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA5080M0CYPJYT9L8R4GPH1BPN5
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The White House has hired its first openly transgender staff member, the Obama administration said on Tuesday (August 18), marking the latest step in President Barack Obama's public support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.
Raffi Freedman-Gurspan, a transgender woman who has worked as a policy adviser for the National Centre for Transgender Equality, will serve as outreach and recruitment director in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel.
Obama, who is currently on vacation on the Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard, initially opposed gay marriage but came out in favour of it in 2012 and has made LGBT rights a priority of his time in office, helping to end the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that prevented openly gay service men and women from serving in the military.
The transgender community has received less attention from his administration. The Department of Defense is in the middle of a review of the policy that effectively prohibits transgender men and women from serving in the military, and the White House has said it welcomes that move.
The NCTE, where Freedman-Gurspan has worked as an adviser on racial and economic justice, welcomed the appointment. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None